Animal Identification via Back Topology Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
In livestock management, particularly in loose-housing systems, it is challenging to monitor and identify individual animals without access to their identification marks, especially when they are in open-air fields, making it difficult to track feed intake and health metrics accurately.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that utilize images of the animal's back to identify individuals based on unique anatomical characteristics, allowing for identification through comparison with previous images, eliminating the need for visible identification marks and enabling monitoring from overhead cameras or drones.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional identification marks (ear tags, neck chains) are used to identify individual animals, then identification reliability is improved, but accessibility to the identification mark deteriorates in loose-housing systems and open-air fields
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses optical copying by capturing images of the animal's back and creating digital representations. Instead of relying on physical identification marks that are hard to access, the system creates optical copies (images) that can be easily captured and processed remotely, solving the accessibility problem while maintaining identification reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical identification systems (physical tags and chains) with an optical/image-based system. By substituting the mechanical approach of reading physical tags with an optical approach of capturing and analyzing back images, the system eliminates the need for direct physical access to identification marks
2Adaptability or versatility
If overhead camera systems or drones are used to capture back images for identification, then monitoring capability is improved in loose-housing systems, but measurement precision of anatomical features deteriorates due to distance and angle
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from 2D flat images to 3D spatial information by capturing depth data and creating three-dimensional representations of the animal's back. This dimensional enhancement allows for more accurate anatomical measurements even from distance, resolving the precision problem while maintaining the versatility of remote monitoring
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces image processing algorithms and 3D reconstruction techniques as intermediaries between the raw camera images and the final identification results. These intermediary processing steps enhance the precision of anatomical measurements by extracting and analyzing specific features from the captured images, bridging the gap between remote imaging and accurate measurement
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a system and a method for identification of individual animals based on images, such as 3D-images, of the animals, especially of cattle and cows. When animals live in areas or enclosures where they freely move around, it can be complicated to identify the individual animal. The present disclosure relates to a method for determining the identity of an individual animal in a population of animals with known identity, the method comprising the steps of acquiring at least one image of the back of a preselected animal, extracting data from said at least one image relating to the anatomy of the back and/or topology of the back of the preselected animal, and comparing and/or matching said extracted data against reference data corresponding to the anatomy of the back and/or topology of the back of the animals with known identity, thereby identifying the preselected animal.